Thomas Kiernan (biographer)

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he was raised in Orange and attended Newark Academy. Kiernan earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1956 from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. He served in the United States military from 1956 to 1958, when he began graduate studies in philosophy. In the 1970s and 1980s, he acted as the biographer of notables like Jane Fonda, John Steinbeck, Yaser Arafat, Laurence Olivier and Roman Polanski. He was a personal acquaintance and occasional tennis partner of Rupert Murdoch, the subject of his biography, Citizen Murdoch. ==Awards==

In 1976 he won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for his book The Arabs, a comprehensive study of the Arab world. In researching this book, he traveled extensively throughout the Middle East to interview scores of prominent Arab spokesmen, including Yasir Arafat. ==Break in==

According to an article in The New York Times dated November 27, 1975, a completed manuscript of a biography on Bebe Rebozo, an associate of Richard Nixon's, that was scheduled to be published by Farrar,’ Straus & Giroux was stolen from the home of Thomas Kiernan. In addition to Rebozo's biography "several tape recordings of interviews and several research files, including one file containing all of Mr. Kiernan's book contracts and another containing all his royalty statements, were taken." Other news coverage at the time pointed out at the time that "thieves ignored" jewelry and other items of value. ==Death==

He died at his home in Peapack-Gladstone, New Jersey on December 22, 2003. ==Bibliography==